Norman I. Perle; Forensic Audio-Video Expert

Norman I. Perle, 62, an expert on audio and video recorded evidence who testified in several high-profile criminal cases in Los Angeles. Perle, who ran the National Audio/Video Forensic Laboratory in Northridge, was a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners and was certified by the American Board of Recorded Evidence to analyze audio and video evidence in criminal cases. He testified in the 1995 sexual harassment trial of Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden that parts of a tape recording of the plaintiff’s psychiatric interview had been erased. Holden was cleared of the charges. In 1983 Perle attacked the authenticity of a videotape that purported to show an informant threatening auto maker John DeLorean if he tried to back out of a narcotics deal. It was later admitted in court that the tape was a fake and DeLorean was cleared. Perle also analyzed recorded evidence in the 1996 murder trial of Charles Rathbun, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for killing model Linda Sobek; the 1990 trial of a former Mexican state policeman accused in the murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena; the 1993 trial of a man accused of rifling through the pockets of Reginald O. Denny, the trucker beaten by a group of men at the start of the 1992 Los Angeles riots; and the 1992 Simi Valley trial of Rodney G. King that sparked the riots. A New York native, Perle died in his sleep while on a business trip in Monterey on Feb. 19. The cause of death has not been determined.